SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Microencapsulation, in which a tiny particle of one material is encased within a shell made from another, is widely used in pharmaceuticals manufacturing and holds promise for other areas, such as self-repairing materials and solar power.
But most applications of microencapsulation require particles of uniform size, and that's something that existing fabrication techniques don't reliably provide. In products with a high profit margin, such as pharmaceuticals, it can be cost effective to mechanically separate particles of the proper size from those that are too large or too small, but in niche or small-margin products, it may not be.
In the latest issue of the journal Lab on a Chip, researchers from MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories report a new microencapsulation technique that yields particles of very consistent size, while also affording a high rate of production.
Moreover, the devices used to produce the spheres were themselves manufactured with an affordable commercial 3-D printer. The ability to 3-D print fabrication systems would not only keep manufacturing costs low but also allow researchers to quickly develop systems for producing microencapsulated particles for particular applications.
"When you print your microsystems, you can iterate them very fast," says Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, a principal research scientist in the Microsystems Technology Laboratories and senior author on the new paper. "In one year, we were able to make three different generations that are significantly different from one another and that in terms of performance also improve significantly. Something like that would be too expensive and too time consuming with other methods."
Two of the criticisms of 3D printing have been that the print quality is poor and the undifferentiated plastic products are not terribly useful. This technique helps overcome those.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 08 2016, @03:34AM
...
and the ones that mother... takes, do a great job at relieving symptoms of Parkinson's disease. My mother is on a time release of Carbidopa and Levodopa brand name Rytary, which I believe is made by encapsulation. It's made a huge difference in her quality of life.
Hopefully this new manufacturing technique can lower the price (eventually) -- currently lists at $900 for a month supply, although her co-pay is significantly less.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 08 2016, @09:15AM
Hopefully this new manufacturing technique can lower the price (eventually) -- currently lists at $900 for a month supply, although her co-pay is significantly less.
Oh you silly moose... this technique will be patented, and its cost will be passed on to your mom. That 900/mo will quickly be growing...
(Score: 2) by Post-Nihilist on Saturday October 08 2016, @04:55PM
Rytary should have a cost equals or lower than the cost Effexor XR. Compared to venlafaxine, Rytary's molécules are smaller, have similar synthesis complexity(http://www.chemdrug.com/file/upload/SYNTHESIS/SYN/10/10072103a.gif vs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carbidopa_synthesis.svg [wikipedia.org] , https://www.chem.wisc.edu/areas/reich/syntheses/dopa-monsanto-knowles.htm [wisc.edu] ) and the macroencapsulation mechanism is basically the same... The ridiculous american price for 150mg of branded Effexor XR is around 130-250$/month. I will cite myself again, drugs are priced at the threshold of regulatory intervention.....
Be like us, be different, be a nihilist!!!
(Score: 2) by Post-Nihilist on Saturday October 08 2016, @05:02PM
I found the price using Google is someone have better numbers please post them. I was on 300mg/day of effexor XR when it was still under patent protection, about 15yr ago, and it used to cost around 250$cad before my insurance reimbursement.
Be like us, be different, be a nihilist!!!